Sir Martin Sorrell has referred to as within the legal professionals after his former employer WPP mentioned it was refusing to pay out a whole lot of hundreds of kilos in share awards, alleging he leaked confidential info to the media following his bitter departure from the promoting agency he based.
Sorrell resigned from WPP three years in the past following a public and acrimonious dispute with the corporate after an investigation into allegations of non-public misconduct, accusations he has all the time denied.
WPP, which warned on the time it may look to dam payouts to Sorrell, has now delivered on that menace, saying in its annual report printed on Thursday that it’s refusing to honour awards funds to its former chief government.
“Awards granted to Sir Martin Sorrell, the previous group chief government, will lapse on account of Sir Martin Sorrell’s disclosure of confidential info belonging to WPP and sure of its purchasers to the media throughout his tenure as a WPP director,” the corporate mentioned.
Sorrell described the corporate’s choice to withdraw the awards as a “petty” transfer pushed by anger. “It’s a bit wealthy that they’re accusing me of leaks, given their very own over the past three years,” mentioned Sorrell. “They’ve had to return a number of years to try to discover an excuse to disclaim me what’s mine. I’ve left it to my legal professionals to take care of.”
Sorrell was due a cost of about £200,000 referring to WPP’s 2016 long-term incentive plan, which vests after 5 years and solely paid out at 5% of the utmost potential primarily based on the corporate’s efficiency. WPP has additionally cancelled a cost referring to the 2017 plan, which may very well be price greater than double the £200,000, however the actual quantity won’t be recognized till the efficiency of the corporate this 12 months is factored in.
Sorrell has acquired greater than £3m in payouts referring to share awards within the first two years following his departure, for award schemes referring to firm efficiency in 2014 and 2015. WPP solely inserted malus and clawback provisions that allow the corporate to halt payouts for schemes referring to 2016 and later.
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